Eternal Prejudice
by Densetsuno Youko
Summary: YYHIY She disliked him because he was prejudiced against her race. He hated her because she was slowly tearing down his world and his ideals piece by piece...yet he couldn't bare to see her harmed, much less killed. KagomeYouko pairing


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

_Author's Note: Surprisingly, I'm not dead. :) I guess that could be good and bad news, but alas…I'm back to writing (after a major…major…major writer's block). Once again, this is an Inuyasha/Yu Yu Hakusho crossover (sad?). Either way, enjoy…or not. _

_Pairing: My favorite (although it's really up to my muse to decide if my favorite pairing is Kagome/Youko or Kagome/Sesshoumaru) – though for this story, it'll be mainly Kagome/Youko…_

**Heartlessly Ruthless**

4/22/06 - 4/25/06

He looked skeptical.

Not that she blamed him, but she'd die before she admitted that.

"I'm serious; I can take care of a child!"

"No!"

"Inuyasha…"

_What part of 'no' did she not understand? The 'n' or the 'o'? _

"Listen woman – Kagome," he quickly corrected. "I don't want any stinking kid clinging to me all day. We have shards to collect and Naraku to slay! I don't want a kid getting in the way!"

_Why did he have to be so stubborn? _

"You don't even have to do anything!" griped Kagome, her patience thinning. "Just say 'yes' and I'll do the rest!"

"NO!"

"Sit!"

_Plow_

"Please…"

"No means no, woman, damn it – what part can't you get through your thick skull?" shouted Inuyasha, pushing himself out of the dirt. "A kid will just weigh us down and get in the way!"

"Sit."

_Crash_

"Wench!" hissed Inuyasha.

"Why can't you just say yes?" Kagome huffed, barely resisting the urge to stamp her feet in frustration.

"Over my dead body!" spat Inuyasha, frowning deeply.

"_Gladly_," shouted Kagome. "Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit…and just because you're such a jerk, sit!" Crushing Inuyasha's back under the soles of her shoes, she easily crossed over his prone body and stormed away without sparing him a backward glance.

* * *

"That went fairly well." 

Sango shot her companion a disbelieving look, but didn't question the matter.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that Inuyasha and Kagome-sama argue like newlyweds? Not to mention their topic…"

Smiling slightly, Sango wholeheartedly agreed. "It sounded like they were debating whether or not if they should have their first child."

"Speaking of children…Sango…"

"Yes?" Sango replied wearily, eyeing her companion distrustfully.

"Will you please bear my child?"

_Smack_

Huffing slightly, Sango quickly stormed off after shooting the perverted monk another murderous glare. When would he ever learn to be serious? Didn't he know that she…ugh, why did it even matter?

* * *

"I'm sorry for burdening you with Shiori…but there's just no one else I know who can…" the woman chocked as tears welled in her eyes. "Please take care of my daughter, I'm begging you." 

Kagome quickly grasped the diseased woman's flailing hand and softly whispered, "I promise I'll take care of Shiori and protect her with my life. From this day on, she'll be my daughter…and I'll love her as my own."

"Thank you," the woman whispered as she lowered herself back into her straw bedding. "Are you companions comfortable with Shiori joining…?"

"Miroku and Sango will support any decisions I decide to make." Kagome answered as she patted the woman's hand comfortingly. "Shippo and Kirara will be glad for another playing companion, so there should be no complaints there."

"What of Inuyasha-san?"

"Don't mention dog-boy," Kagome carelessly waved off. "He'll get used to the idea whether he likes it or not…and even though he may not seem the part, he's very loyal and protective. Plus, I think Inuyasha may understand Shiori's situation more than he's willing to admit…the two have more in common than I do with my own brother."

"I'm glad."

"Here, why don't you rest while I go check up on Shiori and Shippo?" Kagome suggested as she untangled her hand from the dying woman's grasps. "Are they playing in the forest?"

The woman gave a tired nod before drifting off to sleep.

Smiling softly, Kagome gently pulled the covers over the woman's body before quietly exiting the hut – taking extra precaution to not awaken the sleeping woman as she ambled out of the room.

* * *

"Come on Shiori!" coaxed a young kit as he raced a few feet ahead. "There's a really pretty river over there! All sorts of flowers grow there too – big, puffy ones…and small, glowing ones!" 

Shiori blinked demurely before picking up her pace slightly to keep up with the hyperactive kit. Shyly brushing a wayward strand of her silver-white hair out of her face, she softly whispered, "Shippo, is it really all right for us to be so far away? Mama said not to go too far into the forest…"

"Don't worry!" the kit waved carelessly before proudly boasting. "If anything happens, I'll protect you!"

"If you say so…" Shiori trailed off softly.

She didn't speak again for the rest of the trip – opting silence while Shippo chattered endlessly from beside her, proudly recounting his heroic tales of bravery and loyalty. There were many times she was tempted to giggle when the story seemed highly implausible, but politely kept silent and nodded her head in agreement with whatever the kit decided to say.

"Then there was this one time Inuyasha was getting beat up by his older brother Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha was going to die when I, Shippo-sama, decided to…" Shippo exuberantly related before he was rudely interrupted by a rambunctious sneer.

"Look what we have here – a youkai runt with his half-breed girlfriend."

Shippo immediately growled in warning when he spotted a group of sneering human boys ahead. He quickly moved in front of Shiori, shielding her small body from view, before angrily shouting, "What do you want?"

"Youkai trash!" sneered one of the boys as he pulled a small, round pebble from within his clothes. "We don't want you here!" he shouted before launching the small rock at Shippo, hitting the kit smack dab in the forehead and drawing a thin line of blood.

"Shippo-san!" cried Shiori, eyes welling with unshed tears. "Please stop – don't hurt him!" she pleaded.

"Let's show them how we greet half-breed trash like her!" suggested another boy, a cruel smirk pulling on the edge of his lips as he advanced towards the frozen kit and sobbing hanyou.

* * *

Sighing lightly in aggravation, Kagome quickly tromped further into the forest – constantly turning her head left and right in hopes of spotting the kit and the bat hanyou. "Shippo should know better than to go so far," she quietly whispered to herself as she hastened her steps. "I hope they're all right…" she added as an afterthought as a streak of fear lanced through her heart. 

The worry that was prickling heart quickly blossomed into outright fear when she heard undecipherable shouts from deeper within the forest. Jumping to the worst case scenarios, Kagome quickly broke out in a full-out sprint towards the source of the unholy commotion. The sight that greeted her immediately shocked her into silence.

"Die, half-breed!" hissed a burly boy as he shoved the young, bat hanyou onto the forest floor before harshly kicking her in the ribs. "Go back to where you belong and never come back!"

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it right now!" Kagome quickly placed herself between Shiori and the burly boy – intercepting his blow with her own body. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded as the boy stumbled backwards in shock.

"Move aside!"

"No!" Kagome snapped back, pulling Shiori to her feet and shoving her behind her back. "Why are you attacking them?" she demanded again as Shippo raced towards her and clung to her leg as if it were a lifeline.

"Because they're demons." spat the boy as his five friends congregated around them, forming a small semi-circle. "Youkai trashes like them don't deserve to live! So move aside, Lady, or we'll kill you to!"

"No!" Kagome repeated vehemently, shaking her head from side to side. "Don't you see? If we try, demons and humans can peacefully coexist! Shiori is proof of that! Don't do this…please."

"You're the one who doesn't understand!" shouted a thin, gangly boy as he curled his hands into tight fists. "Do you know why we're orphans? Why we're left without a mother and a father?" he demanded angrily, his shoulders shaking with suppressed rage. "It's because of her! That half-breed destroyed everything! Her _people _pillaged our village and killed our family! She's the reason why we're orphans!"

"That's not true – it's not Shiori's fault! Some youkai are cruel, but not all of them! Shippo would never purposely hurt anyone!"

"That little runt doesn't count – name one full-fledged adult demon who meets your criteria! Can you honestly name one demon that is as kind and generous as you say they are?" he spat. After a small pause, he vehemently hissed, "You can't Lady…because there aren't any!"

Kagome found herself at a complete loss for words. It was true; she really didn't know any… "I admit I don't know any demons exactly like that, but I know a few who would never purposely kill humans for the fun of it!" Pausing slightly to catch her breath, she continued, "I know for a fact that Hachi, a raccoon youkai and good friend of Miroku's, would never hurt a human – he doesn't have the heart to do it."

_That or he doesn't have the guts to do it…_

"Then there's Kouga, wolf prince of the Northeastern tribe and good friend of mine – he would never bother with humans unless provoked."

_Though I can't honestly say if that was before or after he met me. _

"Lastly, there's Sesshoumaru, Taiyoukai of the West and half-brother of Inuyasha. He is neither benevolent nor compassionate, but he has dignity and honor. He despises humans, but he would never go out of his way to make them suffer."

…_I think…and I can't believe I said all that about Sesshoumaru! I basically – more or less – praised him! Inuyasha's going to blow a fuse if he heard me say all this. Argh, I still can't believe – I – said it. I mean hello, this is Sesshoumaru – Mr. I-hate-all-humans-for-they-are-not-worth-more-than-the-scum-on-the-bottom-of-my-shoe! What was I thinking? Or was I thinking at all…?_

"Why are we even wasting our time?" spat another boy, picking up another stone. "She's obviously a youkai-lover! Even her husband's a half-breed!"

"H-Husband?" shrieked Kagome, face turning a bright shade of red.

_Are they talking about Inuyasha? _

"Well, isn't he?"

Before Kagome had a chance to protest her marital status, she was immediately assaulted with jagged rocks and everything else the boys could get their hands on. She quickly turned around and shielded Shiori and Shippo with her own body – taking the brunt of the attacks.

"Stop it," cried Shiori, burying her head into Kagome's shoulder. "Stop it – you're going to kill her!" she cried as a large rock slammed into the back of Kagome's head. "Please stop it!"

"Inuyasha!" wailed Shippo at the top of his lungs. "Inuyasha, where are you?" he shouted again, causing the forest reverberate with the agony of his cry. "Inu…" he began, only to quickly trail off when the village boys shrieked in terror.

"Inu…yasha?" whispered Kagome as she slowly released her iron-grip on the two children.

Shippo quickly moved out of Kagome's embrace to peer shyly at the tall figure standing proudly in front of them. "Inuyasha?" he questioned confusedly. He kind of _looked_ like Inuyasha…but Inuyasha didn't have a tail…

"Y-You're Inuyasha?" The boys demanded, quickly backing away several steps to place more distance between the unknown hanyou and themselves. "A-Are you here for them?" he asked, pointing a shaky finger at Kagome at the two defenseless children clinging to her legs.

Pivoting slightly on the balls of his feet, the hanyou spared Kagome a bemused glance before softly snorting, "They are not mine. If they were part of my pack, you would have been dead before you could have laid a single finger on them."

"We don't care!" shouted the pudgy boy, brazenly taking a half-step forward. "We're not afraid of you, hanyou!"

He laughed mirthlessly – cold and dangerous. "Hanyou?" he repeated with a small snort, "You have some nerve, human."

"Aren't you Inuyasha – the half-breed companion of those three?"

Shippo froze half in awe and half in fear as the scent of the hanyou finally brushed against his sensitive nose. "Y-Youko Kurama," he whispered breathlessly, barely resisting the urge to squeal in excitement.

"Do you know him, Shippo?" Kagome asked softly, never taking her eyes off the dangerous (yet breath-taking) hanyou who looked like an odd mixture of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

Nervously shaking his head from side to side, Shippo softly hissed, "This is _Youko_ _Kurama_! How can you _not_ know him? Everyone knows him!"

"Obviously we humans don't." Kagome harrumphed, sparing Shippo a small glance. She quickly turned back to the unknown hanyou and immediately turned a scarlet shade of red when said hanyou caught her staring shamelessly at him. "I wonder if he's related to Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru," she grumbled softly under her breath, "he certainly has Inuyasha's attributes and Sesshoumaru's social skills."

"I have a hard time conceiving the idea that Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the Western Lands, would willingly seek the companionship of a human woman. Although there are rumors that he has gone soft…I doubt he would stoop so low as to befriend a human like you."

Kagome's eye blazed with fury at the insinuation, but quickly bit back her retort when Shippo furiously shook his head from side to side. "Don't anger him!" he squeaked, darting a nervous glance at Youko. "He's like another version of Sesshoumaru."

"Don't ignore us, half-breed!" the beefy boy hollered angrily, throwing a small, but jagged rock at Youko's forehead.

Youko easily caught the small rock between two fingers and lazily flicked his wrist, sending the rock flying back to the boy. In less than a second, the boy crumbled to the ground – dead. A hole, roughly the size of the jagged rock, was brutally burned through his forehead.

Kagome gasped in horror as she turned terror-filled eyes towards Youko, who was smirking slightly in enjoyment. Shiori whimpered slightly and quickly buried her face into Kagome leg, hoping desperately to wipe the image of the boy's lifeless gaze from her mind's eye.

"Watch your tongue, human." He bit icily, turning cold, molten-gold eyes towards the remaining boys. "I am far from being a hanyou – my blood is pure and my race is superior even amongst the most powerful of youkai."

"H-He's a nine-tailed, silver kitsune." Shippo whispered shakily as his small body shivered with fear. "He's the last of his kind…and rumored to hold immense powers over illusions…and nature itself."

"S-Spare us!" cried the boys, dropping to their knees. "We didn't mean to offend you – we are but worthless humans! We didn't mean to harm your friends!"

"They are not my friends." Youko coldly intoned, briefly flicking his eyes towards the strangely dressed woman who was protectively guarding the two children. "You should have killed them quickly."

Shippo gasped softly as Kagome cautiously asked, "You've been here the whole time?"

"I saw everything – it was amusing. I would have spared you," he stated, shifting his eyes towards the boys, "if you had quickly finished them off. But you didn't…instead; you disturbed my peace by your incessant screams and shrieks. You disturbed my forest…and that is unforgivable."

The boys' eyes widened in shock…

"Now you will die in their stead."

…before quickly changing to terror.

"No!" screamed Kagome as a beautiful rose magically formed in Youko's hand. "Don't!" she shrieked again as the rose instantly changed into deadly whip with a small flick of his wrist.

The forest fell into silence as the boys' heads were cleanly severed from their bodies. Kagome chocked back her bile in disgust as the boys' eyes, wide with shock, stared lifelessly at them from their vantage point on the ground.

_They were just children…_

_They were cruel…_

…_but no one deserved this. _

"How can you do this?" demanded Kagome as she dropped to her knees. "They were just children!" she cried, tears pooling down her cheeks. "_Why _did you kill them? How can you kill them for a reason as stupid as this? They didn't _mean_ to disturb you and your forest!"

"Why do you care, woman?" asked Youko, unfazed by Kagome's hysteria. "They would have killed you."

"Just as you will kill us now to satiate your own thirst for blood!" retorted Kagome. "You're a heartless murder…"

"I never denied otherwise." Youko calmly replied, taking a few step towards her. Shiori and Shippo immediately darted behind Kagome in fear as the kitsune youkai neared them. "In this world, the strong live and the weak die…thus, humans will perish. Those _humans_ would have died eventually – I merely placed them out of their misery sooner rather than later."

"No…" Kagome whispered. "There doesn't _need_ to be a survival of the strongest. If we can live in harmony…"

"…And that will never happen." he quickly interrupted, narrowing his golden eyes slightly. "Humans and Youkai can never live together in peace because humans will always be inferior to youkai. And should any human get in my way – intentional or otherwise – I will not hesitate to end his or her life."

Kagome gasped in shock when the kitsune quickly closed the remaining distance between them, trapping her hands in his iron-grip. Her heart pounded loudly in fear as the kitsune sensuously brought his lips towards her ear…

_I'm going to die…I'm going to die…I'm going to die! _

"Run," he whispered softly, his warm breath tickling her skin and sending shivers running down her spine. He immediately released her hands.

Kagome didn't need to be told twice. She quickly scooped Shiori and Shippo into her arms…and ran. She didn't dare to look back, but Shippo did…

He wasn't chasing them.

He just stood there – an arrogant smirk playing at the edge of his lips.

…And in the next moment, he was gone.

* * *

TBC 

_So, what do you guys think? Should I continue:) _


End file.
